“Student Unions Are Justified in Retaining 'No Platform' Policies”

motion: AUGUST 2008 NO “student unions PLATFORM are justified ABIGAIL ROSS-JACKSON in retaining ‘no platform’ policies”

DEBATING MATTERS DEBATOPITING MATTERCS GUIDETOPICS GUIDEwww.debatingmatters.comS CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 of 7 NOTES

Student Unions have for some time used ‘No Platform’ policies Introduction 1 to refuse the right to speak to groups whose views they find Key terms 1 unacceptable. Instituted in the late 1970s to prevent racist groups from standing in NUS elections, the discussion has resurfaced The no platform debate in context 2 recently, due to a resurgence of Student Unions across the Essential reading 4 country debating No Platform. The Oxford Union found itself at the centre of controversy in November 2007 [Ref: Independent] Backgrounders 5 when a decision was taken to invite BNP leader Nick Griffin and David Irving, a British historian who was jailed in Austria Organisations 5 for Holocaust denial [Ref: BBC News], to debate free speech. In the news 6 Students found themselves divided, and since then similar scenes have occurred across the country. Also in November 2007, students at the University of East Anglia voted to campaign to end the NUS’s No Platform policy [Ref: Guardian]. Debates have also taken place at Warwick and Bath, where No Platform policies were voted down [Ref: Warwick blogs]. However, at Sussex and Exeter students voted to retain their No Platform policy [Ref: Exeter media]. The NUS has maintained its stance that it supports No Platform in the interests of the safety of all its members [Ref: NUS]. But are Student Unions justified in implementing these policies, or are they unnecessary? KEY TERMS Fascist Freedom of Speech Hate Speech NUS No Platform Policy Racial and Religious Hatred Bill

DEBATING MATTERS © Academy of Ideas Ltd 2009 TOPIC NO PLATFORM: DEBATING MATTERS GUIDES “Student Unions are justified in retaining ‘No Platform’ policies” www.debatingmatters.COM The no platform debate in context 2 of 7 NOTES What is the role of a Student Union? How does the No Platform debate relate to the wider Central to the No Platform debate is the question of the role context of free speech? of the Student Union [Ref: The International Education Site]. The No Platform debate raises wider questions about free In the UK the purpose of Student Unions is to organise student speech. Is free speech an absolute, or do certain circumstances activities and to provide advice and services to students. Unions warrant its limitation? In 2007, the Racial and Religious Hatred are also the home of student debating and campaigning within Bill came into force, meaning that it became illegal for people universities. Those that support the No Platform policy say to incite racial or religious hatred, even if their actions had no that the first responsibility of the Student Union is to provide physical manifestation [Ref: Home Office]. Some argue that a safe place for all its members. Allowing fascist groups onto criminalising someone for what they say is taking things too far, campus, they argue, will lead to an upsurge in violence and make and that it undermines our freedom of speech and our right universities unsafe for certain groups. They maintain that the to be offensive. Yet public support for anti-terror legislation Union is ultimately a private members club and consequently that criminalises certain speech acts seems to suggest that free has the right to ban any individuals or groups whose views speech becomes a secondary issue when society is faced with it disagrees with from speaking. Without No Platform, they social conflicts. Is the right to speak without limitation a right we fear groups such as the BNP and Hizb ut-Tahrir would also should be so willing to compromise? Though many would hold have access to Union funding to set up societies and hold that the value of free speech is meaningless if it is not universal, meetings, thereby gaining legitimacy on campus and beyond. there are also those who believe that some things are better left But opponents of No Platform state that the primary purpose unsaid. Behind the No Platform debate is a set of issues about of Student Unions is as democratic representative bodies and what the right to free speech entails, how far it extends and that such decisions fall significantly outside the Union’s remit of whether or not it needs to be curtailed in the face of danger. providing student support and services – they are not political bodies. They further suggest that the role of the Union is not to Should Student Unions be talking to such groups? protect its members but to help them get the most out of their Some think that talking to these banned groups is a waste of university experience. Banning certain people from campus time. In the words of Gemma Tumelty, former NUS President, only serves to open up the divide between opposing groups and ‘they are still homophobic, sexist and racist’. Not only do these stifles debate on fundamental issues. Some also dispute the groups have deplorable views, but neither side is likely get notion that allowing fascist groups to speak on campus increases anything out of the discussion. Supporters of No Platform are violent attacks, claiming that there is little evidence to back this also concerned that allowing the BNP and others the right up. to speak may bring sympathisers at the university out of the woodwork and encourage unacceptable, perhaps even violent,

behaviour. But opponents think that it is always necessary to challenge unacceptable views and that as intelligent and critical agents university students are ideally placed to take on this challenge. They have confidence that students will not be swayed by poor arguments and irrational fascist beliefs. They also think that if sympathisers do emerge as a result of talking to certain groups on campus, it puts students in a much better place to challenge these views, rather than leaving them to flourish underground. Violence and intimidation are illegal regardless of No Platform policies, they point out, and the prospect of it should not frighten people into censoring themselves or others.

DEBATING MATTERS © Academy of Ideas Ltd 2009 TOPIC NO PLATFORM: DEBATING MATTERS GUIDES “Student Unions are justified in retaining ‘No Platform’ policies” www.debatingmatters.COM essential reading 4 of 7 NOTES Bath says no to ‘No Platform’ IN DEPTH Mark Wright The National Student 3 March 2008 Bill Rammell lecture: Academic Freedom in the 21st Century Ban the bombers? Lecture Paul Sims New Humanist 5 September 2007 Bill Rammell Fabian Society 27 November 2007 The uprising against fascism: Students storm Oxford Union FOR debate Sussex Students uphold ‘No Platform’ Andy McSmith and Jerome Taylor Independent 27 November Lee Vernon The Socialist 14 May 2008 2007 No platform There is no martyrdom in this pathetic denouement Voices off camera 18 January 2008 David Cesarani Guardian 22 February 2006 Why there must be no free speech for Nazis Protect the freedom to shock Anindya Bhattacharyya Socialist Worker 4 December 2007 Kenan Malik New Statesman 13 August 2001 Campus Radicals Shiraz Maher Prospect Magazine 9 September 2006 Free society still has limits Brian Walden BBC News Magazine 10 February 2006 AGAINST A forward motion Abigail Ross-Jackson and Luke Gittos Culture Wars 13 June 2008 Academic freedom means free speech and no ‘buts’ Dennis Hayes The Free Society 4 March 2008 No to ‘No Platform’ George Eaton On-Line blog 7 February 2008 Just say no to ‘no platform’ Richard Reynolds spiked 26 November 2007 Extreme free speech James Ball Guardian 16 November 2007

DEBATING MATTERS © Academy of Ideas Ltd 2009 TOPIC NO PLATFORM: DEBATING MATTERS GUIDES “Student Unions are justified in retaining ‘No Platform’ policies” www.debatingmatters.COM backgrounders 5 of 7 NOTES This muddled terror law limits free speech and wrecks innocent lives Guardian 22 July 2008 Debate on Raw Radio - Warwick delegates vote for No Platform at NUS Conference Hannah Smith, Andrew O’Brien and Alex Fowles Raw News 20 May 2008 Education Minister undermines NUS Sarah Clark The Journal 3 December 2007 NUS: Shame on the Oxford Union for tolerating intolerance Gemma Tumelty Guardian mortarboard 28 November 2007 ‘No Platform’ and free speech Violet Martin Workers’ Liberty 23 March 2006 Give the BNP a platform – and kick it from under them Jackie Ashley Guardian 1 May 2002 Why ‘No Platform’ is No Good Far Left Watch

organisations Academics for Academic Freedom (AFAF) Student Academics for Academic Freedom (SAFAF) Unite against fascism

DEBATING MATTERS © Academy of Ideas Ltd 2009 TOPIC NO PLATFORM: DEBATING MATTERS GUIDES “Student Unions are justified in retaining ‘No Platform’ policies” www.debatingmatters.COM in the news 6 of 7 NOTES Nottingham scholar held for 6 days under anti-terror law Academics call for unfettered free speech Times Higher Education Supplement 29 May 2008 Guardian 6 December 2006 Hezbollah ‘No Platform’ motion defeated by CUSU Cabinet rethinks race hate laws after jury frees BNP leaders Cambridge Student Online 1 March 2008 Guardian 11 November 2006 UEA votes against a NUS policy on fascism New terror law comes into force Get Hobsons 27 November 2007 BBC News 13 April 2006 East Anglia students reject NUS policy on fascists Adding their voice to the debate Anthea Lipsett Guardian Education 27 November 2007 Guardian 4 April 2006 Howard leads attacks on controversial forum Hundreds join free speech rally Independent 27 November 2007 BBC News 25 March 2006 Protesters force their way into Oxford Union Campus storm over ‘racist’ don Guardian 26 November 2007 Observer 5 March 2006 Row as Oxford Union votes to hear Irving Ministers urge action on campus extremism Observer 25 November 2007 Guardian 20 July 2005 ‘Lyrical Terrorist’ found guilty BBC News 8 November 2007 Race row Nobel scientist James Watson scraps tour after being suspended Times Online 19 October 2007 Plans to outlaw inciting gay hate BBC News 8 October 2007 Iran president in NY campus row BBC News 25 September 2007 Leading British institutions gripped by racism rows Independent 9 May 2007 Students back OUSU in No Platform showdown Rachel Bennett The Oxford Student 26 April 2007

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